Scars
by LDT5413
Summary: Scars had a way of shaping a person and Lucy Chen had acquired a few nasty ones, both physically and mentally. She would pull through though because she was a warrior, damn it, and warriors survived.


**AN: How the hell are we supposed to wait until February? Late February at that. Chen had better be okay, she has to be. If she isn't, I see Tim tearing LA apart until he finds the person responsible. This is only speculation and something to get us by until the new episode. Read and enjoy guys!**

Lucy moaned as she tried to open her eyes. They felt heavy like led. She breathed in deep and felt a sharp pain on her right side of her ribcage. She moved her hands to investigate the problem and felt a sticky wet spot where the pain was coming from. She sat for a few minutes and tried to come to terms with where she was. She opened her eyes wider and felt a spike of adrenalin when she realized she was in a small barrel.

Dark, tight, musty.

She breathed in deep to try and calm her racing heart when the pieces of the hours before came back to her.

She had taken Tim's advice on going for a drink. She went a step further and decided to call Caleb and incite him to join her.

He had spiked her wine.

She had remembered his face as he put her in the trunk of his car. Her last thoughts were of Tim and hoping that he would save her. She thought of him now as she came to full consciousness. She was never late for shift and given the time that Lucy assumed had passed, he would know to look for her. In thinking of Tim she breathed in deep and focused on Tim and all of their interactions: the time they first met, the time they went to the paintball range, the time she had introduced him to Rachel to try and get back in the dating scene.

She sighed at that and briefly thought that introducing her friend to him was a mistake. She pushed the thought away; no use in thinking of what if's now. She may not live to see the next sunrise at this rate.

She closed her eyes and let her mind wonder to Tim and fantasized about meeting him in a different life. Would he still be a pain in the ass at first? Would he be single? Married? Would he even be a cop?

She closed her eyes and began humming a lullaby she remembered since childhood. As the last bits of conscious slid from her, she let Tim and everything about him lull her into a comfortable sleep.

Tim gritted his teeth as he sped through the streets of LA, lights and sirens blaring. He had to get to her, he needed to bring her back to him. No matter the cost. Tim sensed Angela next to him trying to push the anxiety away. He felt her eyes on him as he drove through the traffic and into the old zoo.

"We'll find her Tim."

He gripped the steering wheel and felt his chest tighten, "If something happens to her, I'll tear this city apart trying to find the person responsible."

Angelo rose an eyebrow and voiced what she had sensed for months, "When this is all over with and we find her, you'll tell her how you feel won't you?"

Tim narrowed his eyebrows and gripped the wheel tighter, "What do you mean tell her how I feel? She's my rookie, its against every rule in the book," he shrugged as he pulled into the old LA zoo, "Besides, I'm dating Rachel."

Tim vaguely heard Angela's sarcastic comment as they pulled up into the zoo. Tim stiffened his muscles as if he was preparing for a fight before he climbed out of the shop. He drew his weapon and moved quietly through the trails and followed the directions that Nolan and Harper had given them before they left. He prayed that this was where Lucy was before slowly continuing forward. They had been walking for what had felt like hours before Tim spotted what looked like fresh, disrupted ground. He nodded to Lopez and they moved forward.

Tim lunged for the ground and began digging frantically with his hands. He turned to Lopez when he felt smooth metal under his fingertips. He yelled for her to grab anything to help them dig faster as she radioed for backup and medical assistance.

What felt like hours later and with the help of West and Nolan the had finally dug a metal barrel free. Tim shoved West and Nolan away as he frantically pried open the lid. He felt his heart clench as he saw Lucy's limp form, dirty and bloody.

He gently pulled Lucy from her prison and lowered her to the ground, quickly taking her vitals. He felt a huge weight lift from his chest and shoulders as his fingers touched warm skin and felt a slow, if not a bit weaker, pulse beneath his fingers.

He motioned the medics over and let them work on her as he watched. No one questioned Tim as he stalked towards the ambulance that would take Lucy to the hospital.

He didn't leave her side for weeks after finding her. He reasoned with Rachel that he was just being a good partner. She must not have believed him because two months after the incident she broke up with him. She stated that she couldn't put time into a relationship when it felt one sided. He nodded and quickly moved on.

He blatantly ignored Lopez's snarky comments and Harper's raised eyebrows. When they discharged her, Tim was hovering over her like a bodyguard, constantly checking around to make sure Caleb wasn't within striking distance. He inspected her apartment and stalked into Jackson's room when they entered the front door. He shot Jackson a cold glare as he protested him barging into his room. One quick look at his half-dressed boyfriend had him quickly backing out of the room.

For days, he would wake up on her couch to her screams as her sleep was torn to pieces. He would run in the room, gun drawn, before realizing that she was having night terrors. He would wrap her up in his arms, as he rocked her back and forth, whispering that it would be okay and that he was there with her.

He ignored Jackson's knowing glances as he quietly moved from the couch in the living room to the bed in her bedroom. He welcomed Lucy's constant need to feel his presence by her side with just a quick touch to the shoulder or whispered word in her ear. Being with her around the clock had become so routine that when he suggested he start staying at his place she simply glared at him.

The new Lucy that Tim had pulled from the steel prison didn't talk much. She talked at work and when she had to, but to have conversations outside of the work place didn't happen often. She would subconsciously rub at her side if she was stressed or worried, whether at work or at the apartment. Tim would raise an eyebrow at that before asking if she was okay.

She would smile her pretty smile that she only seemed to give him and say she was fine.

All of her emotions came to a crescendo when Tim had found her staring at her scarred reflection in the floor length mirror. He had met her sad eyes in the mirror and tried to reassure her with a soft smile.

He watched as a lone tear slid down her face, her voice soft in the large room, "I wish I could slice the markings away," her fingers traced the letters and numbers subconsciously, "it would make looking at myself so much easier."

He rose an eyebrow and walked towards her slowly, his eyes tracing over the dark ink on her right ribcage. The reasoning behind the ink sent shivers down his spine. His eyes slid over the letters and numbers before he rose a hand to gently trace the marks that Caleb had left behind in his attempt to kill Tim's world, "You could always get it covered; I know a guy."

Lucy met his eyes in the mirror and shrugged, "Of course you do. You happen to know a guy who could help sabotage my ex's wedding; of course you would know a guy who can make me feel beautiful again."

Tim rose an eyebrow as she shook her head, his hand slowly moving up to cup her chin, bringing her eyes up to meet his, "Look at me Lucy," his voice soft and demanding all at once, "you are absolutely beautiful; don't ever feel ugly for scars that a monster gave you. It means you survived and you're still here breathing."

Lucy smiled softly and rose an eyebrow, "You think I'm beautiful?"

Tim looked at Lucy and stared back dumbstruck, "Are you beautiful?" he shook his head as if to clear a fog and cupped her face in his hand, his fingers trailing under her eyes to softly wipe away the tears, "Damn it boot, you are the most beautiful thing to me. You are a fighter who fought like hell to stay alive in that barrel," he paused again and knew that he was treading in dangerous territory, "The second you gasped for air when I held you in my arms, in that moment you came back to me."

Lucy smiled softly as she thought of seeing Tim when she came to consciousness. His face and voice was the first thing she saw and heard when she was pulled from the barrel. His fear had never been as apparent as the day she had been taken.

She grasped his wrists in her hands and blinked, deciding to finally be honest with him, "You are what kept me going in that barrel. I kept on thinking of your voice and what you would have said to me if you could see me. You were the last thing I remember thinking about before everything went black."

He rose an eyebrow and shook his head, deciding for once not to care about rules or ranks. He kissed her so deep that Lucy had to pull away for air. He breathed in deep and kissed her forehead before pulling back with a grin, "I will always be here for you Lucy, all you have to do is let me."

A week later Lucy gripped Tim's hand so tightly her knuckles were white and he wondered if she had broken something. She focused on his eyes as the needle bit into her skin, covering up Caleb's handiwork. She swallowed roughly as the artist rubbed the blood away and went back to work. She focused on Tim's voice as he talked about his sporting adventures in high school to distract her from the pain. He was telling her about knowing Eric Weddell from the Rams when the artist announced he was done.

Tim slowly helped Lucy up from the table and watched as she stared at the new tattoo in the mirror. He grinned as she took in the Korean letters that spelled out warrior. She had let him pick out the new ink. She said that she trusted him not to have the guy put anything stupid on her permanently. He had asked if she was sure and he had grinned as she kissed him, slow and deep. Now watching her look over his choice of tattoo he grinned, meeting her eyes in the mirror: silently telling her that she was a warrior.

Lucy grinned, finally feeling like herself since her abduction. It may have taken months to get back, but damn it she was a warrior and warriors survived. She met Tim's protective gaze in the mirror, wondering if she would have made it through without him. As he mouthed the word beautiful to her through the mirror, she knew that she would have, but was so thankful she didn't have to go it alone.

She let her fingers trace over the tender skin; the same patch of skin that Tim had traced over and over again with his hands and lips; as if his actions could soothe her aching heart and chase away her demons. As she traced the lines that spelled warrior she knew that she would be okay.

She was a warrior, damn it, and warriors survived. No matter what.


End file.
